Month: November 2017

Father, I just want to thank you for being my
rock and a constant source of comfort, peace and joy throughout every season. Thank you for being my safe refuge in my time of need, thank you for pushing me to evolve and for knowing my full potential in you. Thank you Father for being a good Father, thank you for your love, grace and mercy which you provide each day. Thank you Lord for being a consistently faithful God. Thank you Father, most importantly, for who you are and for the privilege of having a relationship with you built on your love and pursuit. Lord I pray that you will lead and send this post to soften and touch every heart that comes to see it, lead this post to where you need it to go.

In Jesus Name Amen.

Life is filled with peaks, valleys and hidden twists, you never quite know what a day will bring forth. So much can change within a year, sometimes they are changes we embrace and love, but then there are changes which catch us off guard, which we do not want to accept. But one thing is certain, time keeps moving, the sun goes up and sun comes down every day.

We all have certain goals, desires and an idea, which we have envisioned for our lives. That place where we will be able to say I’m thriving and content with the direction of my life, however, as you are aware life has its own plans.

How should we approach the: no’s, delays and closed doors? How do you keep going when you feel like you have reached your limit? How should we react when everything seems like they are not going right?

This year has been a testing year in many different ways. Life kept throwing me curve balls, and it felt like it was just one thing after another. This became the pattern for the year, being knocked down and then fighting to get back up, to the point, I felt like I no longer had the strength to keep getting back up and I was just tired.

My job is very demanding, and I felt I no longer had the head space or energy to keep going with it and I was praying for an ‘out’. I felt so low and down and needed something good to happen. Then I found this role and it sounded perfect in every way, the distance was closer to home, increase in salary, great annual leave and an overall solid next step in my career.

I had never felt so passionate about a role and never felt so strong about wanting a role like this before. I remember being nervous about submitting my application and how happy I was when I received an offer for an interview, I was so pleased. The interview process was very intense, I saw people get cut right in front of me, however I got shortlisted alongside two people who were both strong candidates.

Decision day arrived for me to find out the verdict. I just remember waiting for my phone to ring, but it was getting closer to 5 and I had not received a call. People kept asking me have you heard back yet, which was just making me feel worse. Then the next day I received a letter in the post, and I knew instantly they did not choose me, I was so gutted and I took it really hard. It was just the tipping point and I remember asking God ‘when is it my turn for a breakthrough’ ‘ why couldn’t they chose me’ and ‘why couldn’t I get what I wanted for once’. It just felt like my year was just filled with constant battles and I just wanted something great to happen to compensate for it all. I felt annoyed at God, but at the same time I knew God had a plan for my life which will be fulfilled, however it still hurt and I was conflicted.

Thankfully, I had a holiday booked for the following week to Bali, God was right on time because I was honestly just feeling down and out. God is amazing, as this holiday was so therapeutic, it gave me the time to take a step back and regroup. God met my need by giving me the healing I required.

This study I did recently, really spoke into my situation and I wanted to share it with you.

I was looking at Genesis chapter 15- 22 , at the process and the lead up to the birth of Isaac who is Abraham and Sarah’s son (original names Abram and Sarai) . It is a well-known message, so I will just give a brief background. Abraham was told by God that He would be the father of multitudes, but at the time of this prophecy, Abraham and his wife had no children and they were advancing in age. Following this promise God provided Abraham, some time had passed :

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife , had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her”. And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai.

Genesis 16:1-2

I found it interesting, that Sarah stated the Lord restrained her from bearing children.

Restrain: is to deprive (someone) of freedom of movement or personal liberty.

Sarah felt this way even though she knew God promised, Abraham would become the father of nations, however through a long time of waiting she no longer felt this promise applied to her life, in fact she felt God was now the one who was depriving her of this. Sarah could not see any movement in her life to indicate God will fulfill His promise. All Sarah could see was she was old and pass the age of bearing children and had felt her moment had passed to become a mother. Sarah discounted herself from her calling and then tried to take it into her own hands and help God with His plan (as we do), which resulted in her maid having a child with her husband Abraham, called Ishmael.

This is when we say thank God for His mercy and His pursuit of us. God visited Abraham again following this and made this statement:

Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people’s from her.”

Genesis 17:15-16

Sarah may have discounted her self from what God called her to be however God remains faithful even when we are faithless, and he brought confirmation and spoke hope into their lives. Sarah thought her plan was just to be a mother to one but God called her to something greater than what she ever envisioned for her life. God called her to be a part of the lineage of Christ, to be the mother of nations, in fact to be the first couple named in the geneology of Christ.

If Sarah knew where God was taking her, then I bet she would have had a different outlook to her set back, does make you wonder why do we think we know better than the God who made us and who knows our beginning from our end. We were created with purpose and God’s plan for our lives will always be far greater than what we attempt to plan for ourselves, God is right on time.

You have to choose to look up and to focus on Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour, as He is the author and finisher of our faith. He knows what you can become and will help you to get there, regardless of the detours along the way. We have to learn to embrace the hard times and closed doors, just as much we love to embrace the peaks in life, because God’s intentions towards you are ALWAYS PURE AND GOOD!! God does not have any plans to harm you, His plan is to prosper you and to give you a future and a hope, He is not the author of confusion, He provides us with sound mind and love. So today I want you to thank God, as He is working on your character and perfecting His image in you and preparing you for where He is taking you.

Our future may not be known to us in full but we can trust in our Living God who holds our future and knows what is to come. Your outlook on your life, is grounded as soon as you shift your focus from yourself to God.